GAIL awards major contracts for Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga

State-run gas utility GAIL India today said it has placed orders for another 400-km of pipeline of the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga natural gas pipeline project that will take the fuel to eastern India.

State-run gas utility GAIL India today said it has placed orders for another 400-km of pipeline of the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga natural gas pipeline project that will take the fuel to eastern India.

State-run gas utility GAIL India today said it has placed orders for another 400-km of pipeline of the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga natural gas pipeline project that will take the fuel to eastern India. Line pipe orders for about 400-km for pipeline from Dobhi in Bihar to Durgapur in West Bengal has been placed, the company said in a statement. With these awards, pipe supply orders for 2,100 km of the Jagdishpur-Haldia & Bokaro-Dhamra Natural Gas Pipeline (JHBDPL) project have been placed. Also, 1,700 km of line laying orders have been placed. The prestigious 2,655 km long JHBDPL project, also known as the ‘Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga’ project will originate at Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh, where main trunk pipeline from the west coast currently ends, to Haldia in West Bengal and Dhamra in Odisha.

It will pass through Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha. “GAIL till date has committed over Rs 6,500 crore for the project,” the statement said. The project, it said, will usher Industrial development in East India by supplying environmentally clean natural gas to fertiliser and power plant, refineries, steel plants and other industries. The project will also provide clean energy to households and transportation in the cities en-route the pipeline. GAIL said city gas network, laying activity in Varanasi and Bhubaneswar, has already commenced and the same in other cities like Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Cuttack and Kolkata will start by next month.

The pilot project in Bhubaneswar for providing piped natural gas to households for cooking and CNG to automobiles were inaugurated in October and December, respectively. GAIL Chairman and Managing Director B C Tripathi said the company is committed to complete the project well within scheduled time and cost. The project will cost Rs 12,940 crore and is targeted to be completed by 2019.